Bethel selectmen delay ethics ruling

BETHEL -- Does the town have the right to remove Kevin Riley -- or any other official -- from office?

That's one of several legal issues that's stopped the

Board of Selectmen
's deliberations into whether Riley's work as a soccer coach at
Bethel High School
-- and his wife's three weeks of employment in a town-run summer school -- have fatally compromised his position on the
Board of Finance
.
The selectmen met Tuesday, presumably to decide Riley's fate on the finance board. One option they were weighing was to remove him from office.
But Riley's lawyer,
Martin Lawlor
Jr., said after Tuesday's meeting that creates another conflict, one between town and state statutes. Lawlor said under state law, there's no legal right for the selectman to take Riley off the finance board.
"It's my belief that no board has any right to remove any other public official,'' Lawlor said after Tuesday's meeting.
Lawlor brought up two other legal points he said should give the selectmen pause.
One is a town requirement that all board members file a written statement explaining any conflict of interest they see in performing their work. Lawlor said while some finance board members have recently recused themselves because of possible conflicts of interest, they haven't filed any written statements to that effect.
"If Mr. Riley is guilty, so are the other members,'' he said.
Futhermore, Lawlor said, after the

Ethics Commission
holds a hearing on any complaint, it must file a report to the selectmen. That report must include a detailed finding of fact, a conclusion and a recommendation for action.
In Riley's case, he said, the commission only gave the selectmen its conclusion -- not the facts of the case or a recommendation for action.
Town Attorney

William Hagan
said after Tuesday's meeting that because of Lawlor's legal challenge, the selectmen "need to be briefed further on these issues.
"We should review the validity of the questions raised this evening before proceeding,'' he said.